Maamoul - Maamoul Recipe

They are popular in the Middle eastern countries. They may be in the shape of balls or of domed or flattened cookies. They can either be decorated by hand or be made in special wooden molds.

Muslims eat them During Eid, and Arab Christians eat them at Easter and Christmas.

Serves: 12
Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 tsp orange blossom water

Filling:
1 cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp orange blossom water

8 medjool dates, pitted
1 tsp orange blossom water

vegetable oil
powdered sugar

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, combine flour, semolina and baking powder, mix well.  Next, add butter, milk and orange blossom water to dry ingredients and combine until dough is formed.

In a food processor, blend walnuts until fine and crumbly, pour walnuts into bowl and add sugar, cinnamon and orange blossom water.  Next, put the dates into the food processor and blend until it is formed into a fine ball, remove and add orange blossom water, set aside.

To form maamoul cookies, roll dough into balls, smaller than golf balls, poke an indent into the ball and place some of the filling inside, close the opening until all of the filling is concealed.  Next, wipe down the maamoul mold with some vegetable oil so that dough does not stick, press ball into the maamoul mold and then tap our the cookie by hitting the mold on the side.  Place the cookies on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until bottom of the cookie is light brown.  Remove cookies and let cool completely, dust cookies completely with powdered sugar and store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.